Human Rights in Turkey: Society’s Moral Obligation to Girls and Boys

The concept of “children at risk” should not only describe those who live on the streets, outside the family order, in an environment with a higher likelihood of criminal activity; this concept should also be expanded to include street children who, driven into criminal activity, are charged and detained in jails where they are again exposed to violence, which these children know only too well.

Here I define “children at risk” as being those who are completely defenseless and immature, are under 18 years old, do not yet have the facility for independent judgment or complex perception and cannot express themselves fully; children who have not yet rescued themselves from traumas experienced at the hands of their families and are forced to protect themselves from violence and sexual abuse, while they try not to starve out on the streets.